Page 13 of Savage Pakhan

My eyes widen at the sight. I thought Ivan had it and was waiting to deliver the punishment for all the horror stories I’d written in there.

To make matters worse, my diary is open, meaning Alek has been reading my most inner, private thoughts and experiences. Some pages even contain him.

Pages that were never supposed to see the light of day.

He’s the last person I expected to see. I gasp, wondering if he is going to force me to go back to the church. No matter how kind he is to me, I don’t know if I trust him.

I jerk the wheel, shocked to see him, and afraid what this must mean.

“Mia!” Alek shouts, reaching for me from the backseat.

I whip my head to stare straight ahead and overcorrect when I turn the wheel left, taking us to the opposite side of the road.

It’s too late. There’s no way to miss what’s about to happen.

The car slams into the concrete block of the bridge and soars over it. The lake comes to view below, the water getting closer as we nosedive. I do my best to brace myself, but how can I prepare for what’s coming?

Time moves fast and slow. The water comes quickly yet my thoughts can’t wrap around what’s happening either.

The lake meets the front end of the car and we smash violently. The hood pops up and hits the window. The force causes my head to smack against the steering wheel then snap back, slamming against the headrest.

My vision blurs as water fills the car and we start to sink.

“Mia, look at me. Look at me!” Alek yells, the water up to our chest.

I meet his gaze in the mirror, tilting my head back to suck in as much air as I can.

“We’re going to go under. I need you to hold your breath for as long as you can, you hear me? I’m going to get us out of here, Lyubimaya. Hold your breath,” he nods.

I suck in one last breath, my head going under the cold water.

I try my seatbelt again, yanking, tugging, pulling, pressing the button, anything everything to get me out. I slam my fists on the window, knowing it’s pointless since I can’t get out of the seatbelt.

The tulle of my dress floats around me and for a moment, I’m free of him. I’m weightless. There’s no gravity. I’m weightless.

A muted pound has me turn my head to see Alek trying to open the driver’s side door. Bubbles leave his mouth when he yanks on the hand, screaming into the lake that swallows his plea whole.

My chest burns. My head grows with agony as if it might burst. I can’t hold my breath much longer.

Alek swims to the surface to get more air and I’m left alone, not bothered at all that this is how I die. I’m free of Ivan. I won’t die by his hand, but instead, my own. This was a possibility when I decided to leave. I had to weigh death as an option.

I never expected it to come so fast, so suddenly. In a blink of an eye, my escape from a life of constant torture led to me finding peace.

The water feels amazing wrapped around me, holding me the way I haven’t felt in years. The chill sweeps into my core.

My arms fall limp, floating like they did when I played ‘dead man’s float’ when I was a little girl. I played it with Ivan in the pool. I wish I knew then that he despised my existence. Maybe then I would’ve ran away before he could ever sink his nails into me.

Contract or not.

Alek is pounding on the window again, but I don’t have the energy to look at him. I can’t hold my breath anymore. My vision blurs on the sides and darkness creeps in.

I’m left staring at the bubbles floating to the surface that escape me.

I’ve always heard when people are about to die, their life flashes before their eyes, but that’s not happening to me. There are no memories I want to replay. There aren’t people I’m going to miss.

Well, maybe one. And he’s doing his best to save me.

I need to let him know that he has to let me go.